Weekly Update

There is a lot on the go this week!

• Popcorn orders are due this week
• Swimming lessons start tomorrow afternoon
• Sight word flashcards will be sent home on Thursday
• There is no school on Friday, January 29th

Family Group Friday: Board Games!

Tomorrow afternoon students from all grades will be gathering in their family groups to play some board games! It will be a great chance to learn some new games. Students are welcome to bring their favourite board game from home to play with their family groups! 

Willow Park School Family Movie Event at Leduc Cinemas This Sunday!

On Sunday, January 24th, our students and their families are welcome to come watch the Disney movie ‘Inside Out’ at the Leduc Cinemas. 

Tickets are $3 and students must be accompanied by an adult. Doors will open at 9:30 am and the movie will begin at 10 am. Tickets will be for sale in Mrs. Clarke’s grade 1 classroom from 12:30-12:45 or in the office for parents at any time before Friday.

The characters from ‘Inside Out’ (Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness) have played a huge role in our assemblies this month. The students are learning about regulating their emotions. This movie is a fun explanation for your child(ren) as to why they’re feeling the way they’re feeling. Come join us for a morning of laughs!

What We Were Up To This Week: January 11-15

We have begun working on reading and writing sight words. Sight words provide an excellent base for reading at an early age. They are often called sight words because some of them can't be sounded out, and need to be learned by sight. The first group of sight word flashcards went home on Friday, along with 5 fun activities you may choose to use with your child in order to master these words. A new group of words will be home about every two weeks. Students will not be 'tested' on these words on a specific day. Rather, I will review these words regularly with your child individually and when they have mastered all of their words in a group, which means that they can read all of the words independently, they will receive a reward for their hard work.

We continue to work on identifying beginning, middle, and ending sounds. Two of the student's favourite online resources to do so are Chicken Stacker: http://pbskids.org/lions/games/stacker.html and Fuzzy Lion Ears: http://pbskids.org/lions/games/ears.html. I have also included these links on the 'Links and Resources'page.

Olaf is still making his rounds in the class!

In math, we are busy working on finding and showing numbers 1-20, counting forwards and backwards to 20, counting by 5s, counting by 10s, and preparing for our patterning unit by reviewing colour and shape vocabulary. We have been working on reading colour words and are also creating 'Colour Robots' as an art/science project. We will be exploring mixing primary colours and tinting/shading colours as well. The students like singing and dancing to the song 'Colour Robot': https://youtu.be/TdxBWRuhEIM.

             Robot Project Progress             

Brenda Probst from Alberta Health Services continues to join us every Wednesday to work on our 6 week printing module. Please keep your eyes open for the weekly newsletters she sends home with tips to extend your child's fine motor development and printing skills at home. 

Salt plate letter practice

That is all for now. As always, if you have any further questions or require additional information, please contact me!

What We Were Up To This Week: January 4-8

Happy New Year!

I hope that your families had an happy and healthy Christmas Vacation. I am looking forward to all that 2016 will bring in 1H. 

This week was an exciting week, as we began reading and writing sight words and colour words. We will be focusing on these words over the next few months. Flashcards with new sets of words will be sent home every two weeks for at-home review. 

Olaf arrived in our classroom during Santa's December visit. As mentioned in the newsletter that was sent home, each student will have a turn to bring Olaf home for one evening. This is part of our 'Where is Olaf?' unit, focusing on position words such as behind, under, beside, etc. 

The students are very excited to begin swimming lessons at the end of the month! Please make your payment for swimming lessons by Friday, January 15th. 

As always, please let me know if you have any further questions or require additional information.